How was the ‘clone app development art’ killed?
There was a time when clone apps used to be feature-pack, flawless and as good as custom apps.
But over time, development standards of clone apps took the nosedive.
The problem wasn’t with the market, but with the mindset of development companies.
They once used to go the extra mile to figure out what can be done extra in clone apps.
But then they started building and delivering the exact same UI and feature set without exploring any new possibilities for the clone app.
Their motive was simple – do more sales by completing a project in less time with fewer resources!
Eventually, the true concept of clone apps became obsolete.
Reactivating the true concept of clone apps
Unfortunately, you don’t find a lot of people talking about the true concept of clone apps as it has already been forgotten.
Anyway, the true concept of the clone app is to use that popular app as inspiration and reference to build something similar but something more epic than it.
For instance, if you are planning to build a DocuSign clone app, your motive should not be building the exact same app but building an app that has better UI/UX than the original DocuSign app and has some features that even the original DocuSign app lacks.
More specifically, a clone app must meet the following criteria.
- There must be at least 30% fresh features in the clone app.
- There must be less than 50% identical UI/UX.
- The concept of the clone app can be the same as the original app, but it can always be improved.
- Even the clone app must be tested with the same standards as the custom app.
- The technology stack of the clone app can be the same as original app but choose the technology stack while keeping your future needs in mind.
- Don’t cut the corners. The clone app must be developed as per the software development life cycle.
If your DocuSign clone app satisfies all these criteria, it meets the standards of the custom app. And we all know, a custom app delivers more value and better ROI than a clone app!
Art in practice – How do we build a DocuSign Clone app which works and looks like a custom app?
Because of 3 reasons, we are able to create an app like DocuSign that looks and works as good as a custom app.
- First, we still practice the lost art!
- Second, we follow the same process which we only follow while building custom apps.
- And third, We take our job seriously.
Let’s explain our art of building a clone app in more detail.
1) We do a lot of brainstorming
We’re very clear. We don’t want to build a castle in the air. Whatever we do, there must be a sense behind it. We never follow something or someone blindly.
Thus, we brainstorm a lot on an app idea, app market, tech stack, feature set and business model even if it is well-tested in the market and many apps are already working on it.
Such a brainstorming practice helps us discover some rare opportunities which change the fate of the clone app and make it equivalent to the custom app.
2) We form a relevant team
Honestly, to execute your project of the DocuSign clone app, a single senior developer from our team is enough. But as said before, we don’t cut the corners.
We form a team of business analysts, UI/UX designers, backend developers, frontend developers, QA engineers and a client success manager.
Because an individual person delivers what he knows. But a team delivers what every individual knows!
3) We go from A to B, not A to C
It has been observed that development companies take clone app development very casually. They don’t follow the entire SDLC. They skip crucial steps and directly jump into the coding part.
But that’s something we never do. We start from scratch, from the discovery phase to documentation, workflows, wireframing, UI/UX, and then finally come to the coding part.
Why?
Well, we don’t aim to build the exact same DocuSign app. But we aim to build Docusign 2.0 with fresh features and better UI/UX than the original app.
And to achieve this, going from A to B and not A to C is the most basic requirement!
4) We have a more serious job than delivering a DocuSign clone app to you
Yes, and that job is ensuring your business growth with whatever tech we deliver to you.
You must understand the fact that delivering an app and delivering growth fueled by an app are two different things.
But unfortunately, all app development companies haven’t yet developed a mindset of delivering a clone app that surely assures the true business growth of the client.
5) We test clone apps the way we test custom apps
It is very rare to hear ‘QA testing of clone apps’ as only a very few app agencies prefer to invest time and resources in QA testing of clone apps and work on ‘quality’.
We are one of those few app agencies.
We acknowledge the fact that launching an app full of bugs is the easiest way to end up losing your invested money and time.
Thus, we invest our time and resources to find the maximum number of bugs and solve all of them in order to deliver a maximum stabilized app like DocuSign.
In case you are wondering about the increase in project cost, well, we utilize a perfect fusion of automated and manual testing to save testing cost, time and resource requirements.
We master the lost art because we are sure of the results it can bring to you
We know what works and what does not. We never invest in wrong ideas and wrong efforts.
Because our clients trust us and our wrong steps can severely affect their plans too.
So, now you might have an idea of why we build clone apps as good as custom apps. (Because we know the results it can deliver to our clients.)
Let us give you a glimpse of the results we can deliver to you with the DocuSign clone app.
- Your clone app will have more useful features than the original app.
- Your clone app will have better UI/UX than the original app.
- Your clone app will undergo extensive QA testing to make sure of no major bugs.
- Your clone app will fuel your business growth because it is developed that way!
- Your clone app will have a future-ready tech stack.
- Your clone app will not look and work like a copied app!